don't forget that some people have gone to jail for PIPEs abuse. Guillaume Pollet at Societe Generale went to jail in 2005.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7988-2005Apr21.html

Guillaume Pollet, a former managing director at S.G. Cowen Securities, pleaded guilty to insider trading for selling shares of Rockville-based HealthExtras short in 2001 after he learned the company planned a private-equity offering. Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Pollet with fraud and insider trading, saying he engaged in short selling of shares of 10 companies that were involved in private investment in public equity, or PIPEs, some of which were structured by S.G. Cowen. Pollet's short sales "locked in" more than $4 million in trading profit for S.G. Cowen, the SEC said. The SEC suit is its first attempt to punish alleged abuses in the PIPEs market, said Mark K. Schonfeld, director of the SEC's Northeast office.